American Century Companies Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Costco Wholesale Co. (NASDAQ:COST) by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,577,920 shares of the retailer’s stock after selling 168,145 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.36% of Costco Wholesale worth $370,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the third quarter valued at $105,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc purchased a new position in shares of Costco Wholesale in the second quarter valued at $103,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 180.0% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 560 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors purchased a new position in Costco Wholesale during the second quarter worth $119,000. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Costco Wholesale by 632.9% during the third quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 579 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.65% of the company’s stock.

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In other news, Director Richard M. Libenson sold 2,049 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.00, for a total transaction of $458,976.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,049 shares in the company, valued at $682,976. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Richard A. Galanti sold 4,163 shares of Costco Wholesale stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.23, for a total value of $945,958.49. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 32,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,332,712.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 64,312 shares of company stock valued at $14,547,272. Corporate insiders own 0.74% of the company’s stock.

Several research firms have commented on COST. BidaskClub raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 23rd. Northcoast Research raised shares of Costco Wholesale from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 12th. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale in a research note on Thursday, October 11th. Loop Capital set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Costco Wholesale from $255.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $237.94.

NASDAQ:COST opened at $237.74 on Friday. Costco Wholesale Co. has a twelve month low of $167.05 and a twelve month high of $245.16. The firm has a market cap of $103.73 billion, a PE ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 4th. The retailer reported $2.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.02. Costco Wholesale had a return on equity of 24.67% and a net margin of 2.21%. The business had revenue of $44.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Costco Wholesale Co. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 9th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 8th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Costco Wholesale’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.38%.

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Costco Wholesale Company Profile

Costco Wholesale Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates membership warehouses. It offers branded and private-label products in a range of merchandise categories. The company provides dry and packaged foods, and groceries; snack foods, candies, alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, and cleaning supplies; appliances, electronics, health and beauty aids, hardware, and garden and patio products; meat, bakery, deli, and produces; and apparel and small appliances.